It’s smartphone upgrade season – time to pause and protect your data.

Have you decided which smartphone you’re getting next? With so many amazing new phones on the market, chances are you’ve already got your eye set on one.

Last week, Apple unveiled the long-anticipated iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 finally hit stores. Following months of Pixel phones being out-of-stock, Google is set to announce the next generation of Pixels in early October. And, if all that wasn’t enough to inspire new-smartphone-envy, rumors are already swirling over the Galaxy S9.

Whether you’re snagging an iPhone X, or waiting to see what Google and Samsung announce in the coming months, there are a couple of key considerations to think through before you click “buy.”

Chances are, you’re considering participating in a trade-in upgrade program or selling your old phone to offset the sky-high cost of the new one. So, take this moment to take stock of all the important data – photos, notes, texts, etc. – you have on your phone before the old one is gone.

What if the voicemails you’ve saved through the years, like the “Happy Birthday” message your grandpa left you two years ago, were gone tomorrow? Can you imagine losing all the photos you’ve taken on your phone? If that makes you feel panicky, you’re not alone. Our phones are so important to us because they don’t just hold digital data, they hold meaningful memories.

Remember to do a thorough backup.

Even if you’re not upgrading, it’s important to protect these memories by backing up your phone. Automatic backups, available on most platforms, remember to back up your data for you, so you can sleep better at night. Before you buy a new phone, now is the time to double check that all your data has been copying over successfully and that these systems have backed up the most recent version of your data. For added security, you can always back up your backup, to a computer or hard drive.

Carefully research options for transferring data, or leave it to a trusted expert.

If you’re upgrading from one iPhone to another, transferring data onto your new phone should be pretty straightforward thanks to Apple’s ‘Restore from iCloud’ feature, but that hasn’t been without hiccups. And, if you’re switching device ecosystems, things get more complicated, especially since you’ll be dealing with new native apps (from iPhone Notes to Samsung Memos, for example). Save all the data from your old phone to an external source first, just in case anything is incompatible.

If you have any concerns about transferring data yourself, take it to an expert at your local phone store. Again, make sure to back it up first because anything can happen, even in an expert’s hands.

Data headaches could be a thing of the past with LINK, which allows users to safely store up to 2TB of their own digital content on one secure, easy-to-use device. Plus, you can leverage your phone’s data plan to create a wireless hot spot that is safe and secure for sharing on any platform.

Learn more about how LINK can help bridge the gaps in your digital world.

Very useful! I bought a new phone a year ago and I had to transfer all my data from apple to android…it was a nightmare because I have never done it before. Definitely wort to back up your data from time to time.

I am in search of an upgrade. My phone backs up with google but these are great tips on how to back up everything you have on your phone before you switch! If I didn’t have an auto backup I would definitely leave it to the experts so I wouldn’t mess it all up lol

These are wonderful tips. I’m not planning an upgrade but my iphone is behaving badly after ios11 upgrade and after reaching out to apple support care, the first thing they asked about is the backup!! I keep my backup in laptop as icloud only give 5GB which is far too low. But I feel backups are really really important!!

I have no desire to be an owner of a smartphone, but all my friends seem to live through them. I know a few who are currently in search for th umteen time this year for a new one. so now when I go with them I’l at least be able to give them tips

Backup is crazy important. I think I learned my lesson many years ago 😛 I also use icloud now and dropbox, as well as local backup. So worth it to take the time to back it all up because you never know!

The only thing I am sad about with the iPhone is the limited space that they have in the cloud. Although it is a pretty great phone and I have been very happy with it. And I can’t imagine to switching to another phone.